The Spirit Within
by Appl3sauce
Summary: About six years after her adventures in the Spirit World, Chihiro and Haku reunite and set off on another adventure.
1. Memories

**Disclaimer**: Well, I don't own Chihiro, Haku, Lin, Kamaji, or Yubaba. I just borrowed them for a little while. I'll give them back to Miyazaki as soon as I'm done playing with them!

**Summary**: About six years after her adventures in the Spirit World, Chihiro and Haku reunite and set off on another adventure.

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**The Spirit Within**

**_Memories_**

"Goodbye! Thank you!" Chihiro cried, as she waved farewell to the inhabitants of Yubaba's Bathhouse. "Bye!" Lin's voice could be heard above the rest, and then, Kamaji the Boiler man shouted, "Come by and visit!"

Chihiro grinned and turned to run towards Haku. "Let's go!" he said; he was grinning. They ran across the bridge where they had first seen each other, just four days ago. "Where are my mom and dad?" Chihiro asked Haku, as they ran down the stone steps, past all the restaurants. "When you passed the test, they woke up on the human side of the river; they're there now; they'll be looking for you." Haku replied.

They paused at the end of a last group of steps, where Chihiro had seen a river fill up before her eyes, and where she first saw the guests of Yubaba's Bathhouse. It was all fields of grass now. "There's no water!" Chihiro thought out loud, "I can walk across now!"

"But I can't go any further." Haku sighed. Chihiro turned to face Haku, a pleading look on her face. "Just go back the way you came; you'll be fine" Haku whispered. Then he added, in a more serious tone, "But you have to promise not to look back; not until you've passed through the tunnel."

"But what about you? What'll you do? "Chihiro asked.

"Don't worry," Haku grinned, "I'll go back and have a talk with Yubaba. I'll tell her I'm going to quit being her apprentice." When he saw that Chihiro still didn't look convinced, he said, "I'm fine. I got my name back."

"Will we meet again sometime?"

"Sure we will"

"Promise?" Chihiro asked innocently.

"Promise." Haku grabbed her hand, and whispered, "Now go, and don't look back." He gave Chihiro's hand a tight squeeze, and then let go.

Chihiro ran across the fields; she vowed never to forget those last four days, as she caught a glimpse of her parents, who were now restored to their human forms. She ran to meet them, openmouthed, and then, suddenly, her alarm clock rang out.

_To Be Continued. . ._

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A/N: So, I know it's just the first chapter, but please, review, tell me what you think, and I'll post up the next chapter as soon as I can!


	2. They Meet Again

Disclaimer: No, not mine; they belong to Miyazaki, excluding Akari Kinomoto, Nikki Ishida, and Ms. Terusa. I own their souls. Heehee

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**Chapter 2: They Meet Again. . .**

Chihiro let the alarm clock ring a couple of more minutes before stretching out her hand and turning it off. She opened her eyes slowly, and yawned.

As she headed for the bathroom to take a shower, she went over the dream that she had just woken up from; she smiled: In that dream, she had been ten years old. She had just passed the test that Yubaba the witch had made up to let her and her parents go back to the Human World- She was in the world of the spirits then, and the entrance to that world was near her house (It was trying to find their new house, actually, that Chihiro and her parents had found the entrance to the Spirit World, an old tunnel).

Chihiro smiled. It surprised her that she could still remember every detail that had occurred during the time that she had been in the Spirit World (Four days), when all of that had happened almost six years ago. . .

Chihiro quickly put on her school uniform, grabbed her school bag, and went down to the kitchen to have a small breakfast and hurry to school. Her father had already left to go to work, and her mother had gone to go do some shopping on the neighboring town.

On her way to school, Chihiro met up with her best friend, Akari Kinomoto.

Akari had long dark hair that was usually braided or separated into two pigtails; Chihiro had never seen Akari go to school with her hair down; in fact, the only time that she had seen Akari with her hair down had been the time she had gone over to Chihiro's house for a slumber party. Chihiro had always admired Akari's hair, thinking it to be much more beautiful than her own shoulder-length, sandy brown hair.

They walked down the street talking animatedly, and when they reached their classroom at Seijyu High School, they sat down next to each other, and patiently waited as the rest of the class filed in slowly. Another one of Chihiro's close friends came in pretty soon. Nikki Senshin had short curly blond hair, and wide blue eyes. She was one of the best students in her class.

"Hey!" She greeted Chihiro and Akari, "Did you know that someone moved into the old house around the block?"

"Really?" Akari looked interested. "do you know who?"

"Well," Nikki sighed, and sat behind Chihiro. "I think it was a guy about our age and an old woman. What do you think of that?"

Chihiro shrugged, and began to doodle absentmindedly in the back of her notebook.

When their teacher, Miss Terusa came in, she greeted her class in the usual way. "Good morning, class!" she called, while she put her bag on her desk and took out a clipboard, "I need you all to settle down; I have an announcement to make before we begin with our classes today." Some of the students stopped talking, but others continued to talk in hushed voices to their neighbors.

Miss Terusa wrote a name down on the blackboard, and then cleared her throat: "A new student will be joining us today." The entire class was now paying attention to Miss Terusa. Chihiro looked up from her drawing and stared at the board: The new student's name was "Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi." Miss Terusa turned to the door, opened it, and said, "You can come in now, Kohaku."

Everyone turned to face the door. A boy with short greenish-dark hair walked inside. He stepped in front of the blackboard, and calmly stared back at the class. Chihiro thought that he looked strangely familiar, but. . . It couldn't be. . .

"Would you like to introduce yourself, Kohaku?" Miss Terusa asked the boy.

The boy waited for a minute, then said in a calm voice, "Hello, my name's Kohaku Nushi. Pleased to meet you all." As he looked around, he caught Chihiro's eye; he grinned at her, and winked.

Chihiro gasped.

"What's wrong?" Akari asked.

"Haku?" Chihiro whispered incredulously.

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**A/N**: Yes, Haku is back!!! If you'd like to read more of my fic, please review!!! The more reviews I get, the quicker I'll update- that's a promise!


	3. Call Me Haku

**Disclaimer**: Ok; any character that wasn't in Miyazaki's "_Spirited Away_" Belongs to me. (i.e Akari, Nikki, Yuki Miramoto, and the school teachers.

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**_Call Me Haku_**

"Haku?" Chihiro whispered incredulously.

Nikki snorted. "What's up with you? His name's Kohaku- not Haku."

"Haku?" Chihiro whispered again. It couldn't be. He looked just like she remembered him, but he looked different at the same time: His hair was definitely shorter; he was way taller too: Six years ago, he was about half an inch shorter than Chihiro- Now he was about five inches taller than her! But his voice hadn't changed at all. She hadn't heard that voice for a long time, but she would've been able to recognize it anywhere. . .

A lot of her classmates were now beginning to whisper again- about Kohaku. Chihiro could catch bits of conversations coming from around her:

"He looks like he's really serious..."

"He is _sooo cu-ute_!"

"Do you think he's single?"

Kohaku wasn't listening, though. Miss Terusa was talking to him, and he nodded silently after Miss Terusa said, "There's an empty seat over there next to Chihiro- Chihiro, dear, could you raise your hand so he knows where to sit?"

"It's alright, Miss Terusa; I know Chihiro."

"Unfortunately, we're running a bit late, so we're not going to be able to ask Kohaku questions at the moment;" Miss Terusa told the rest of the class, "but I'm sure that it will be alright to ask questions after lunch."

The group of girls who had said that Kohaku was cute turned around and threw Chihiro dirty looks as he walked past them. "_Lucky you!_" One of them whispered. Nikki sniggered.

"How does he know you, Chihiro?" Akari asked.

"It's a long story. . ." Chihiro answered shortly. She stared at Kohaku as he settled into his new desk. When he had finished, he turned towards Chihiro, and seeing the stunned look on her face, grinned again, and asked, "What? Surprised to see me?"

"No, well, sort of. . . I thought that I'd never see you again, really." she said shyly.

"Well we did promise to meet again, didn't we?"

"But I thought that you'd forgotten. . ."

Kohaku shook his head. "That wouldn't have happened. To forget a promise I made to the first friend I ever had?" He laughed.

Nikki and Akari were looking from Chihiro to Kohaku, a bemused expression in each face. Akari opened her mouth to ask a question, but Chihiro cut in, "Like I said, long story; I'll tell you at lunch." She smiled.

After three hours of Algebra, Writing, and Chemistry, class was dismissed for lunch break. A lot of the class went down to the cafeteria to buy their lunch, while others went to get the lunch that they had brought from home, which included Akari, Chihiro, Nikki, and Kohaku. They sat together, and had to endure many glances as the class entered back from the cafeteria with their lunch. A lot of the guys in the class introduced themselves to Kohaku, including Yuki Miramoto, the class's best soccer player. When Yuki come over to say hello, Akari choked on her apple juice, blushed fiercely, and fumbled around with her dumpling. As soon as he had left, Nikki began to tease Akari. Trying to change the topic, Akari asked, "So, Chihiro, how _did_ you meet Kohaku?"

Chihiro turned to look at Kohaku. He had stuffed his mouth full of turkey sandwich on purpose, and was deliberately looking up at the ceiling, twirling his thumbs.

"Ok. . ." Chihiro threw Kohaku a dirty look, "When I was moving here, about six years ago, my dad managed to get lost, and we finished off driving close to. . . errm. . ." Chihiro paused. She knew her friends would never believe her if she said "a haunted attraction park that was actually a bathhouse for spirits.", so instead she said, "uhh... Haku's-"

Kohaku gave a false cough in which Chihiro clearly heard, "_Kohaku!" _

"I mean- Kohaku's aunt's house. . ." Her voice faded away slowly, and she looked down at her peanut butter sandwich. Nikki raised one of her eyebrows. Akari frowned. "_Why_ do you keep on calling him Haku?"

Kohaku sighed in an exasperated sort of way, swallowed the last bit of turkey sandwich he had in his mouth, and said quickly, "We met in an abandoned theme park that was part of a bathhouse for the spirits. I was a witch's apprentice and henchman by then-" He had to stop, because Akari and Nikki had suddenly burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Kohaku asked.

"I'd rather believe Chihiro's part of the story!" Nikki choked, " witch's apprentice- _Really!"_

"I can prove it." Kohaku said firmly.

"Is that so?" Nikki straightened up. "Well, then- Make my milk carton float in the air."

Kohaku stared at her. "That's it?"

"For now." Nikki crossed her arms. Akari began to sip her apple juice slowly.

"Okay. . ." Kohaku sighed, and pulled back his sleeves. He put his hand over the carton, and whispered, _"Levitate." _

The milk carton began to glow, and suddenly lifted slowly off the table. Nikki was staring openmouthed at it; Akari had choked on her apple juice once again. Chihiro stared intently at the milk carton, and smiled. She loved magic. She wished she had the powers to do the things that Kohaku usually did. . .

Kohaku seemed to be controlling the milk carton's movements with his hands- he made it drift around the table slowly, and as low as possible, so that nobody else would see. When he turned the palm of his hand, the milk carton turned; the milk that was still inside poured out- but it didn't touch the table. Instead, it just separated, like tiny little mercury bubbles, and began to zoom around the milk carton.

"That's enough" Kohaku said suddenly. The milk swirled back into the milk carton, and it landed softly on the table in front of Nikki. "Oh wow. . ." Nikki whispered; Akari was speechless.

"_Now_ do you believe me?" Kohaku asked mischievously. Akari and Nikki nodded slowly. "Okay. . . Let me finish my story now." And he told them about Chihiro's adventure six years ago.

Not long after he had finished, and Nikki and Akari were satisfied with the answers they got to their questions, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break. The class filed itself back into the classroom, and they all waited expectantly for Miss Terusa: They wanted to begin asking Kohaku some questions. When Miss Terusa came in, she asked Kohaku to kindly step up to the front of the classroom again, and asked the class, "Well then, does anyone have any questions for Kohaku?"

Several people's hands shot into the air. Kohaku sighed, and waited for Miss Terusa to call on people so that he could answer.

"Where did you go to school before you came here?"

"I was. . .er. . . home schooled." He answered.

'Well, it is kind of true,' Chihiro thought.

"Did you live in another city?"

"No. I've always lived around here."

"Do you play any sports?" Yuki asked.

"Well, I've practiced fencing, swimming, and martial arts, but nothing else, really. I'm really eager to try other sports out."

It went on like that for a while. After about half an hour, Miss Terusa announced that one more question should be enough. Everyone seemed satisfied, though, because nobody else raised his or her hands.

"Anyone?" Miss Terusa urged the class.

Chihiro looked around to see if anyone wanted to ask a question, before she raised her hand timidly.

"Yes?" Miss Terusa beamed.

"Umm, I was wondering. . . Do you have a nickname?"

Kohaku grinned, sighed, and then answered humorously, "Yeah, I actually do, glad you asked!" He paused.

"My friends call me Haku."

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**A/N**: Well, what do you think? Thank you so much to the people who reviewed my fic!!! They made it all worth it! ok; you know the drill: Review, I'll update! Till next chapter!  
Appl3sauce 


	4. Kyo

Disclaimer: Chihiro and Haku do not belong to me. They belong to the talented Mr. Miyazaki.Any character that didn't appear in _Spirited Away_. . . Their soul belongs to me.Mwahaha!  
Well, enought of this. On with the fic!!!

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**_Kyo_**

The next class was one of Chihiro's personal favorites- Art. All she had to do was doodle on a piece of giant paper, (Which came very easily to her; she was a very good artist.) and that was it. Today, though, they were going to begin to use watercolors. Chihiro thought that they were a pain, and she managed to get more watercolor paint in the old shirt she was wearing to keep her uniform clean, than on the paper. But she still managed to paint the cluster of flowers she had wanted. She sighed, and wrote her name at the bottom corner of her painting, and then began to look around to see how her friends were doing: Nikki, feeling a burst of lack of imagination, was just filling the whole paper with one color. Akari was struggling to make a tree. But when Chihiro looked over at Haku, she couldn't help gaping in amazement- He handled the watercolors really well, and he was painting a wonderful panoramic view; Chihiro recognized it as the front of Yubaba's bathhouse, with a couple of trees and the sea in the background.

"Whoa. That's amazing!" Chihiro whispered gazing at his picture.

"You like?" He smirked.

"Definitely!" She exclaimed.

Mr. Keyko, the art teacher, was walking around checking to see if everyone was working, when he noticed that Chihiro and Haku were talking. "Well, having a nice chat, are we?" He said, walking towards them. Chihiro jumped. Mr. Keyko looked from Chihiro to Haku. "Why aren't you two doing your work?"

"I-I already finished, Mr. Keyko." Chihiro stammered.

"And you?" Mr. Keyko turned to face Haku.

"Just about finished, sir." Haku answered promptly.

Mr. Keyko scanned Haku's painting. "Wow," he said, "You're doing a really good job there; I know I wouldn't have been able to work with watercolors that good. But I want you to finish. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." Haku nodded.

Mr. Keyko smiled and walked away.

"I can't believe that you actually got complimented on your artwork by Mr. Keyko !"said Yuki (who had settled to paint next to Haku at the beginning of class). "Your artwork must be really good- he usually doesn't say anything." He walked over to Haku to look at his artwork.

"Yeah," Nikki agreed, "Getting praise from him is really something. I know that he has never said anything good about my artwork. . ." She sighed.

"Feh, no wonder; all you did was color your paper blue." Akari pointed out.

"Yeah, well, today isn't bringing me any inspiration."

"You _never_ get inspired to do _anything_ in this class!"

Art class ended with Nikki and Akari bickering slightly.

History class passed by without anything new going on- except that Nikki got some competition in being the best student in the class, when Haku showed the class how much he knew about Ancient History. Chihiro couldn't help laughing out loud when Kohaku whispered at her, "I can't help knowing about this stuff- I was there when most of it happened."

The last class of the day was gym class. The teacher, Miss. Kyoko, said that they would be playing soccer. Yuki whispered a very enthusiastic "_Yes!"_ under his breath. "But first," Miss Kyoko said, "I want three laps across the gym for warm-up." The class groaned, but began to run. Chihiro, Akari, Nikki, Haku and Yuki were jogging slowly, when Nikki decided to ask, "Hey, Haku, how fast can you run?" Her eyes had an unusual glint, and Chihiro knew that she wanted to see how fast he could go by using magic.

Haku raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Why? Do you want to race or something?"

"No." Nikki answered, "I was just . . . curious." She gave him a meaningful look.

"No magic, though." He whispered back. He didn't wait for an answer; he began to run at full speed. The people he zoomed by barely saw him- they just felt as if a very powerful breeze had hit them, and then they would see Haku a long way ahead. Haku was done by the time that most of the others were halfway through their second lap. Nikki was thoroughly impressed once again. "Whoa," Yuki said, "that was fast!" He paused to think for a while, and then asked, "What did he mean with 'no magic'?"

"Nothing!" Chihiro said quickly.

After warm-up, the class voted for team captains; Yuki was Chihiro's class's captain and a boy with white hair and bright black eyes was chosen as the other captain (Two classes took gym at the same time). Yuki and the other boy shook hands, and the game began.

Yuki and Haku were easily the best players in their team: They worked together and did such great moves, that it seemed as if they had been practicing together for a long time. Yuki's team was winning 14 to 9, when the other team began to play more fiercely. The captain of the other team began try to block only Haku. Every time that Haku would try to pass the ball to anyone else, that boy would be blocking his way; anytime he tried to turn another way, the boy was in his way again. The other team was getting better, and Yuki's team was losing its lead.

There were about five minutes left of gym class, and the other team had managed to sore four more points. Yuki's team was only one point ahead.

"So, you're the new student, aren't you?" The boy asked once, while trying to take the ball away from Haku.

Haku nodded, while trying to dodge him again.

"Where do you come from?" he asked.

"I've always lived around here." Haku answered shortly.

The boy still tried unsuccessfully to engage Haku in conversation, but Haku was too concentrated in trying to keep the ball away from him.

After a couple of minutes of silence, the boy suddenly said, "Y'know, you look unusually familiar."

Taken aback, Haku looked up. The boy took this opportunity to swing his leg around Haku's ankle, and get the ball. Haku lost his balance and fell. The boy looked down at Haku for a minute, thinking hard and then whispered, "Ah, yes; how could I ever forget? You're Nigihayami, aren't you?"

Haku didn't answer. How had that boy known that his name was Nigihayami? Nobody called him that, except for his grandmother. "Have we met before?" Haku asked.

"Oh, yes; plenty of times." The boy answered.

Haku struggled to try to remember, but gave up quickly, sighed, and answered politely, "I'm sorry, but I just can't seem to recall who you are."

"Really? I was under the impression that you had a great memory." The boy smirked, and then whispered, "I guess that a couple of hundred years can really change some people."

Haku's eyes widened. His mouth had gone dry. "Wh- who are you?" he stammered.

"Still can't remember? What a pity." The boy's eyes narrowed, but he smirked more widely than before. "Maybe my name will ring a bell." He paused.

"The name's Kyoshiro Sanada."

Kyoshiro tried to score a goal, but Haku managed to stick his left leg out and push the ball out of place before Kyoshiro could reach the ball; the result was that Kyoshiro kicked Haku's foot instead of the ball, with tremendous force.

Haku's brain numbed with pain as he felt Kyoshiro's foot make contact with his ankle. He screamed in pain as he felt a soft _pop _and his ankle bone snapped. But Miss Kyoko hadn't seen what had happened: the papers she had in her clipboard had suddenly been strewn across the soccer field by the wind, and she had been trying to pick them up.

"Sorry bout that." Kyoshiro said, but he didn't sound sorry at all. He looked at Haku, with an evil sort of grin on his face, and then, noticing Chihiro, Akari, Nikki and Yuki running towards them, walked away, leaving Haku clutching his broken ankle on the grass, tears of pain welling up in his eyes.

"Haku!" Akari cried.

"What happened?" Yuki asked.

Haku didn't answer. His face was pale and sweaty both from pain, and fear.

"Are you okay?" Chihiro asked uncertainly, kneeling down next to Haku.

"It can't be—Kyo . . ." Haku whispered painfully.

He allowed Yuki to steer him up to the nurse's office, followed closely by Chihiro, Akari and Nikki.  
  
_TBC. . ._

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**A/N:** Hey readers! Thanks so much for keeping up with my fic. Just to let you know, if you have any ideas or questions, feel free to e-mail me!  
**Responses to reviews**: _Wyldcat_:About the old woman. . . Heehee. . . All in good time! Keep reading if you want to find out!  
_Kataan_: Happy 15th birthday!

Ookies. . . the more you review, the faster I'll update!!! Till next chapter,  
Appl3sauce


	5. Recalling the Past

**Disclaimer:** Ok, to make the disclaimer short, any character that you don't recognize as in being in Miyazaki's _"Spirited Away"_ belongs to me. Ok? Ok.

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**_Recalling The Past_**

Haku's ankle was wrapped delicately at the nurse's office. She had wanted to call the doctor to see if the doctor could check to see how much damage had been done to Haku's leg, but Haku refused, saying that his grandmother would take care of everything as soon as he got home. The nurse seemed to want to argue, but she just sighed, and handed Haku a pair of crutches she had there. Yuki volunteered to walk home with Haku, since they lived close to each other. Chihiro tagged along as well. Akari and Nikki were getting rides home from Akari's father.

"Are you sure that you don't want a ride home instead?" Akari had asked Haku.

But Haku had just shaken his head, and replied, "It's okay, thanks; I only live about two blocks away from here."

So, Yuki, Chihiro and Haku went on their way. Yuki and Haku were talking animatedly ("I'm really sorry about your ankle, but that save was spectacular! I can't believe that you saved us the game!"), but Chihiro was silent. She kept on thinking about Kyoshiro. Why had he hurt Haku like that? Chihiro had seen that when Haku had moved the ball over, Kyoshiro had still had time to think twice about swinging his leg. . . and why, _why_ had Haku looked so frightened when he realized who that was? Sure, she had seen the boy at school there. . . they had even been assigned to the same classroom in the seventh grade- she didn't talk to him much, though, because he was one of the popular kids, while Chihiro was still trying to fit in; she was still sort of new to the school then.

When they arrived at Yuki's house, Haku still had to go around the corner, so Chihiro kept on going with him. They walked in silence for a while, Chihiro still thinking about Kyoshiro, and Haku clumsily trying not to trip here and there as he hobbled along.

"Why so quiet?" He asked, trying to break the silence.

"Hmm?" Chihiro shook her head, to stop daydreaming. "Oh, sorry; I'm just doing some thinking."

"About what?"

"About Kyoshiro."

The smile Haku was wearing wore off the moment Chihiro mentioned the name.

"What about him?" He asked, without looking at Chihiro.

"I was just thinking about how he hurt you today. . ."

"It was nothing. Just an accident."

"It didn't look like an accident to me- he had time to think twice about kicking your leg!"

"Yeah, well, stuff happens. . ." Haku insisted.

Chihiro tried to change the topic, now that she knew that this talk wasn't going anywhere. "How come you looked so frightened?" She asked.

Haku didn't answer immediately. Chihiro had the impression that Haku was thinking of how much to tell her.

"No reason; he just surprised me. We've met before, and. . ." His voice trailed off. He fell silent for a while as he remembered the last time that he had seen Kyoshiro.

_Haku was running as fast as he could go across the forest grounds. He couldn't believe what Kyoshiro had just done. 'Why did he do this?'he thought angrily. He tried to run faster as he caught a glimpse of Kyoshiro's white hair._

_He still couldn't get over the shock of what had happened:_

_The last couple of days, it had been hard for Kohaku to stay calm while hanging out with Kyoshiro- he was becoming more and more rowdy and obnoxious. He would hide behind boulders close to roads, and would use his magic to make trees fall across the road when a group of unsuspecting humans were trying to cross with carts full of goods to trade in the town just down that road, forcing them to take other routes, sometimes across the forest. Most of them got lost, and only a couple managed to find a way out days, maybe weeks later, to Kyoshiro's displeasure. _

_Kohaku decided that he had had enough of everything that night when Kyoshiro succeeded in sneaking into a town and setting most of it on fire. "This is just too much!" he had said. Kyoshiro grinned at him in a malicious sort of way. "Why do you want to hurt the humans? They try their best to please the spirits, and this is the way you repay them? By destroying their homeland?!" Kohaku pointed furiously at the burning town. _

_Kyoshiro only sniggered. "Who cares about them? Besides, I am a spirit of darkness and mischief." _

_Kohaku's blood was pounding with rage. "You know what? I just- I just can't stand it." Kyoshiro looked at him, a bemused expression on his face. "I'm through with all this ruining villages, and stuff. I'm leaving." _

"_I see. . ." Kyoshiro said. "so the friendship's through isn't it?"_

_Kohaku nodded angrily. "Alright then," Kyoshiro closed his eyes for a second, and opened them again slowly. "Can we at least shake hands goodbye?" he asked._

_Kohaku stared at Kyoshiro for a long time, and then stepped forward, and extended his hand. Kyoshiro did the same, his eyes glinting malevolently. They shook hands, but when Kohaku tried to withdraw his hand, Kyoshiro squeezed his hand tightly. Suddenly, Kohaku was aware of a tingling, then burning sensation in the palm of his hand. Kohaku gasped as Kyoshiro let go of his hand, and revealed to be holding a large sapphire stone the shape of a water droplet- Kohaku's magic stone. "How'd- how did you. . ." Kohaku stammered nervously._

"_Simple spell I learned a while ago." Kyoshiro smiled evily. He shot Kohaku a piercing look, pocketed the stone, said "Thanks for the goodbye present, Nigihayami!" and ran towards the forest at top speed. Kohaku was stunned for a couple of seconds; he couldn't believe that he had just finished the friendship he had built with Kyoshiro, and that Kyoshiro had just called him by his last name. Then, he shook his head a couple of times to land back in reality. _

"_NO!" Kohaku cried, and ran to catch up with him. _

_After a couple of minutes, Kohaku came to a clearing; Kyoshiro was standing at the other side, throwing the stone in the air, and catching it quickly._

"_Give me the stone." Kohaku said angrily. Kyoshiro smirked, and shook his head. "Sorry, can't do that." He said. Then the smirk vanished from his face, and was replaced by a very ugly look. "I've decided that it would be a pain if I just let you run amok. You could bump into another spirit and ask for help." _

_Kohaku gaped at Kyoshiro. "You wouldn't. . ." _

"_For power, I would do anything." Kyoshiro whispered. He put his hands together, and a blood red energy ball the size of a basketball began to form. He looked at Kohaku, and whispered "Ever seen one of these beauties? They grow; a lot, and then they surround anything I want it to. Whatever is trapped inside can be considered beyond hope. It sucks the energy away, till its victim is dead. In about a minute of a lot of pain, Nigihayami, you'll be no more." He grinned evilly. "So, it was nice being with you, Nigihayami. Goodbye." _

_Kyoshiro threw the energy ball at him. Kohaku was rooted to the spot. Without his powers, he couldn't do anything. He ducked and shielded his head with his hands, though he knew it was no good. He could almost feel the energy ball expand as it came closer to him. The ground around him was a violent shade of red now; he felt as if a thousand needles were sinking into his body. He sank slowly to his knees, and writhed around in agony. He heard Kyoshiro's sinister cackle of glee. Then, his vision, began to fog up. It was hard to breathe now. _

_But then, a strong wind blew loudly around the clearing. Nothing had happened to Kohaku. He was still alive. He looked up. Somehow, the energy ball had been deflected in Kyoshiro's direction, and he had blocked it. Though the energy ball hadn't killed Kohaku, he had been drained of most of his energy, and all he could see were faint blurs around him. But he could tell that another spirit was battling with Kyoshiro- and winning. Another great gust of wind blew across the clearing, and he saw the white blur that was Kyoshiro get lifted off his feet. Kyoshiro was suspended in the air for a couple of seconds before Kohaku felt him land hard against a boulder. Kohaku's sapphire flew from his pocket. It floated gently towards Kohaku. Then, a gentle voice echoed in Kohaku's ears as he pocketed the stone. "Leave quickly!" _

_Kohaku did as told, without looking back. But he still heard Kyoshiro's scream, "I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS, NIGIHAYAMI!!!!" _

_A couple of days later, Kohaku's river had been drained and the land around it destroyed; he knew who had done it. _

"Hello. . ." Chihiro waved her hand in front of Haku's face a couple of times. He had stopped walking suddenly, and was staring at a crack on the sidewalk.

Haku shook his head. "Oh, hey. Sorry bout that." They walked a bit further in silence. Then, Haku stopped, and said, "Well, this is home."

They had stopped in front of a large, aquamarine house, two stories high, with four windows in each floor. It had two small flowerbeds in the front, and a big porch. Haku limped to the gate to the backyard and attempted to open it, and keep hold of his crutches at the same time, but was unsuccessful. Chihiro had been gazing at the house in amazement, and hadn't noticed what Haku was doing. Haku cleared his throat loudly.

"Errm, Chihiro, could you help me here?" he asked.

"What?" Chihiro looked back down at him. "Oh! Sure." she went to open the gate, and Haku hobbled inside. He turned to Chihiro and asked, "Well? Wanna come in?"

"Um, sure," Chihiro said, "but, would you mind if I use your phone to call my mom and tell her where I am?"

Haku nodded, and led the way through the backyard. Chihiro was awed at how big it was. There were more flowerbeds near the house, a vegetable patch, and there was a large hammock tied between two old trees. And lying in the hammock was. . .

Chihiro gasped. "_Lin?"

* * *

**A/N:** _Ok, ok. . . I know I hadn't updated in a while, but that's because I was having a bit of trouble with my computer. I'm really sorry! I hope you liked the chapter. SooOo, e-mail me if you have any questions or comments, and pleez review my fic!! Till next chapter,  
**_Appl3sauce_**


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